E. J. Campbell School

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the E. J. Campbell School in Nacogdoches County.

Now settle in, because this is a story worth the telling. It starts in 1903, with a simple four-room schoolhouse. Four rooms.

And from those four rooms, something remarkable took root. The school opened under the name the Nacogdoches Colored School, serving African American students from the town and the surrounding area, because the need for new educational facilities to serve growing African American communities was evident. Students came from miles around.

Miles around, to sit in those four rooms. And over the subsequent decades, that little schoolhouse grew. It became a central educational and social meeting place for African American communities across Nacogdoches County.

Now, like many other communities at the time, Nacogdoches and its educational institutions were segregated in accordance with state and federal laws. The official promise was separate but equal. The reality, as the marker makes plain, was that these facilities often lagged behind in financial support and educational opportunities.

That gap was real. And yet, something was happening inside those walls that a funding shortfall could not stop. In 1937, the school was renamed.

Not for a politician, not for a wealthy benefactor, but for its longtime principal, E. J. Campbell.

That is a thing a community does when a person has earned it. And Campbell had earned it. Beginning with his term, and under his direction, high school students were regularly taken to visit Prairie View Normal School, later known as Prairie View A&M University, so they could see with their own eyes the higher education opportunities available to them.

Now think about what that meant. You are a young person in Nacogdoches County. Nobody has handed you a map to the future.

But your principal loads you up and drives you to Prairie View, and suddenly that future is visible, and it is real. The numbers tell you what happened next. At one point, more than two-thirds of the students graduating from the E.

J. Campbell School went on to attend college and excel in a number of professional fields. More than two-thirds.

And notably, many of those students became certified as teachers at Prairie View and came back home, back to Nacogdoches, to work in the school district. They came back. The school ran until 1970, the year Nacogdoches schools fully integrated, and then it closed.

But what it sent out into the world, those graduates, those teachers, those professionals who came up through four rooms and then two-thirds of a graduating class headed for college, that does not close. That just keeps going.

What the marker says

Until it closed in 1970, the year Nacogdoches schools fully integrated, the E. J. Campbell School at this site served African American students from the town and surrounding area. The school opened in 1903 at a time when the need was evident for new educational facilities to serve growing African American communities of the area. Originally named the Nacogdoches Colored School, it was renamed for longtime principal E. J. Campbell in 1937. Like many other communities at the time, Nacogdoches and its educational institutions were segregated in accordance with state and federal laws. Officially, these facilities were to be "separate but equal," although in reality they often lagged behind in terms of financial support and education opportunities. The original school, a simple four-room schoolhouse, became a central educational and social meeting place for African American communities in Nacogdoches County. Students came from miles around to attend the new school, which continued to grow over the subsequent decades. Significantly, beginning with principal Campbell's term, and under his direction, high school students regularly visited Prairie View Normal School (later Prairie View A&M University) to learn of higher education opportunities available to them. At one point, more than two-thirds of the students graduating from the E. J. Campbell School went on to attend college and excel in a number of professional fields. Notably, many of the students became certified as teachers at Prairie View and returned to work in the Nacogdoches school district. (2014)